In The Passionate Teacher, Ron Fried describes the Game of School (GOS) as what happens when teachers and students forsake intellectual work and instead engage in their classes as rituals. Take this opportunity to consider this chapter in light of some of the the other experiences that you've had this semester to answer at
least three of the following questions:
What elements of the game of school are you seeing in your placements?
How have you seen teachers fight the game of school in their classes?
What features can you plan into your units that might discourage the GOS?
Finally, what impact will this description of the GOS have on your own approach to teaching as expressed in your teaching philosophy?
I have observed this “game of school” being played in my high school placement. My cooperating teacher is always trying to make her class more exciting than the average biology class. Her exams are difficult and require the students to study hard for them, which led my CT to think about changing them, but changing them would mean changing the exams that the biology department has used for years. To compensate for not the greatest test grades, she adds a project to most units she covers. Students are always given a rubric and as long as they follow directions, they can do well on the project. This is my cooperating teachers way of fighting this routine of difficult exams that the school prefers her to use.
My CT tries to make the projects as relevant to the students as possible and tries to keep it at a task level that every student can do well in. Her most recent unit project covers chromosomal diseases. The project requires students to pick a genetic disease and present it to the class as if they were a genetic counselor speaking to a family. Many students take advantage of this project and you can tell that they were generally interested in the topic. Other students merely just repeat what they had found on Google, or do not do the project at all. For students who are not doing well on exams, this project can significantly bring them down, although this was not the purpose of the project. My CT’s spirit is broken as she sees her attempt to raise students grades backfire for a good chunk of her students. She has mentioned to me that she doesn’t know how else to get her students to do their work.
To discourage this GOS in my classroom I will work with students rather than pushing work at them. A reoccurring problem I have seen in my high school placement is that students aren’t really interested in completing their work, even if they are failing. I want to encourage students to complete their work and show others what they’ve learned. To fight this routine of “just doing enough work to pass by,” I will give my high school students an opportunity to show just how much they can accomplish by creating a semester long project for them to complete. I will allow time to work on this project every Friday for twenty - thirty minutes, depending on how long class periods are. On these Fridays, I will schedule short meetings with individual students to listen to ideas or assist them in making their projects better. I will make the topic of this project something broad and allow students to take it wherever they want to go with it. I will also provide examples and a list of topics for students who aren’t sure where to start. I will take an interest in each one of my student’s projects and be available to assist them as much as I can. I will also invite parents or guardians at the end of the semester for students to display their hard work.
Every career has obstacles and we must not allow these obstacles to stand in our way of our goal. The game of school has reminded me of these obstacles and that giving up would only mean giving into the game. The GOS has impacted my teaching philosophy in that it has inspired me to find solutions to these obstacles because if not, I would just fall into the game. Despite other colleagues or students who make learning hard for others, I will make it my mission to search for that “ray of sunshine” that will remind me why I wanted to teach in the first place. I will continue to try new things until I find what works for that class. I want my students to know that I believe that they can succeed and want to pass on my interest in science. I will not fall into the same routine that does not always work and I will always strive to be the best educator I can be.
least three of the following questions:
I have observed this “game of school” being played in my high school placement. My cooperating teacher is always trying to make her class more exciting than the average biology class. Her exams are difficult and require the students to study hard for them, which led my CT to think about changing them, but changing them would mean changing the exams that the biology department has used for years. To compensate for not the greatest test grades, she adds a project to most units she covers. Students are always given a rubric and as long as they follow directions, they can do well on the project. This is my cooperating teachers way of fighting this routine of difficult exams that the school prefers her to use.
My CT tries to make the projects as relevant to the students as possible and tries to keep it at a task level that every student can do well in. Her most recent unit project covers chromosomal diseases. The project requires students to pick a genetic disease and present it to the class as if they were a genetic counselor speaking to a family. Many students take advantage of this project and you can tell that they were generally interested in the topic. Other students merely just repeat what they had found on Google, or do not do the project at all. For students who are not doing well on exams, this project can significantly bring them down, although this was not the purpose of the project. My CT’s spirit is broken as she sees her attempt to raise students grades backfire for a good chunk of her students. She has mentioned to me that she doesn’t know how else to get her students to do their work.
To discourage this GOS in my classroom I will work with students rather than pushing work at them. A reoccurring problem I have seen in my high school placement is that students aren’t really interested in completing their work, even if they are failing. I want to encourage students to complete their work and show others what they’ve learned. To fight this routine of “just doing enough work to pass by,” I will give my high school students an opportunity to show just how much they can accomplish by creating a semester long project for them to complete. I will allow time to work on this project every Friday for twenty - thirty minutes, depending on how long class periods are. On these Fridays, I will schedule short meetings with individual students to listen to ideas or assist them in making their projects better. I will make the topic of this project something broad and allow students to take it wherever they want to go with it. I will also provide examples and a list of topics for students who aren’t sure where to start. I will take an interest in each one of my student’s projects and be available to assist them as much as I can. I will also invite parents or guardians at the end of the semester for students to display their hard work.
Every career has obstacles and we must not allow these obstacles to stand in our way of our goal. The game of school has reminded me of these obstacles and that giving up would only mean giving into the game. The GOS has impacted my teaching philosophy in that it has inspired me to find solutions to these obstacles because if not, I would just fall into the game. Despite other colleagues or students who make learning hard for others, I will make it my mission to search for that “ray of sunshine” that will remind me why I wanted to teach in the first place. I will continue to try new things until I find what works for that class. I want my students to know that I believe that they can succeed and want to pass on my interest in science. I will not fall into the same routine that does not always work and I will always strive to be the best educator I can be.